Page 126 of Stardusted

Planets? No, a planet. Blue, green, glimmering like a jewel in an ocean of glittering, unfamiliar stars.

A flash of silver.

Words.We’re here. Come find us.

Pain split my skull like an axe blow, severing the connection to the light, slicing through the haze. Full consciousness roared back, and with it, a red-hot poker jammed itself behind my eyes.

“Shit!”I cried out hoarsely, hands flying to either side of my head. It felt like my poor brain was fracturing into a billion pieces. I tasted iron.

“Raven!”

For a second, I didn’t know where I was or who was shouting my name. Only pain.

And then—Sky. That was Sky’s voice. Sky gripping my wrists in a near-bruising hold.

“Rae, you’re okay,” he bit out. “You’re here. You’re safe.”

I realized I’d been flailing and pushing at him, and I pulled back. When I peeled my eyelids open, I could make out his blurry outline over me.

“Sky? What…” I gasped. My face felt wet with perspiration. Or maybe those were tears. Hard to tell. I was trembling uncontrollably. “Was that supposed to happen?”

“No.” He was holding my shoulders now, fingers tight. “Absolutely not.”

That coppery tang. Oh. Oh,shit. That tasted likeblood.

I touched my tongue to my lips. Sure enough, it was running from my nose and into my mouth. Possibly past my chin. A whole gushing mess of it.

Blurry Sky swore, releasing me and shooting to his feet. “Hold on. Stay here.”

“Not going anywhere,” I said through my chattering teeth. I caught the gushing flow in my cupped hand and curled forward, breath ragged. My vision cleared enough for me to make out Sky rummaging frantically through my kitchen drawers.

A second later, he was back, pressing something against my face. I reached for it instinctively. My dish towel. Soft. Plain gray. I’d gotten a whole pack on sale for three ninety-nine.

“Here,” Sky said, guiding my hand to the towel. Gently, he helped me press it against my geysering nose. “Tilt your head forward.”

“I thought it was back,” I muttered into the fabric.

“That’s a myth.” He planted his palm between my shoulder blades and guided me forward. “Like that.”

I doubled over and squeezed my eyes shut. “Was that…was that because of whatever you were doing?”

“I wasn’t doinganythingat the end,” he muttered. “Once you were under and in the memory, I cut the current.”

He was rubbing small, soothing, and very distracting circles on my upper back, but I frowned anyway, adjusting my grip on the towel. So if all thiswasn’t because of his brain ray, what the hell had just happened? I tried to think back, but my head rang like a giant warning bell. Shapes, color, light…

I’d seen something. Felt something. But it was gone now, buried in a haze of pain and buzzing dissonance. Like static.

“Are you okay?” Sky asked, an edge to his voice. The hand on my back stopped moving.

I opened one eye a sliver, breathing through my mouth. The morning light outlined him. His shoulders were tense beneath his thin white tee, and his big hand still rested over mine, keeping the wadded towel against my nose. His face was tight.

A flare of embarrassment crept in.

“I think so,” I mumbled, muffled. “I’m sorry.”

“For what? Bleeding?”

“It didn’t work,” I told the towel.